Ben Stiller says he feels guilty about the failure of this comedy: “I thought everyone wanted it” – Film News

The sequel to the 2001 film with Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson was not as successful as the first and ended up generating losses for the studio.

Known for comedies such as Night at the Museum and Getting Cold, Ben Stiller is one of the most beloved actors in the genre. However, as much as most of his works please the public, one of them ended up not working as well as he had hoped.

Speaking on actor David Duchovny’s Fail Better podcast, Stiller reflected on the failure of Zoolander 2 (2016), the sequel to the film released in 2001, which, unlike the second installment, had been very successful. Zoolander 2 not only had a poor reception, it ended up generating a loss of six million dollars for the studio.

The actor, who starred in and directed both films, said he was blindsided by the disastrous results of his sequel and feels guilty about it: “I thought everyone wanted this. And then it’s like, ‘Wow, I must have really f*cked up. Nobody went to watch. And it got horrible reviews.”

The actor had previously spoken about the subject and that this “wasn’t a nice experience”, but in this conversation he confessed that he was really scared by the results and that it affected him for a long time, making him question his own self. talent.

It really scared me because I thought, ‘I didn’t know it was that bad?’. What scared me the most about it was that I was missing out on what I find funny, of questioning yourself… in Zoolander 2, it was definitely a surprising act for me. And it definitely affected me for a long time.

After this case, Stiller decided to reflect and change his mentality in relation to his projects, in addition to redefining his priorities as an actor, putting art above profit. That way, if he hadn’t had that time to rethink, he might have made one more sequel. “If it had been a hit, and they said ‘make Zoolander 3 right now,’ or offered some other movie, I probably would have gone in and done it.”

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Zoolander 2 was released 15 years after the first film and follows Derek Zoolander (Stiller) as he is recruited by agent Valentina Valencia (Penélope Cruz) to investigate a series of murders. The sequel brings back names like Owen Wilson and Will Ferrell, as well as cameos from celebrities like Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande.

Since then, the actor has been focusing on his side as a director and has recently delivered titles such as Escape From Dannemora (2018) and the successful series Ruptura (2022).

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